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“We deployed a team member in our water rescue equipment to investigate the area and a mobile phone was recovered.”

The Torbay Lifeboat was stood down before it was actually launched.

A Coastguard goes into the sea off Torre Abbey - to find a phone (Image: Torbay Coastguard)

John Bunce, Torbay Coastguard Station Officer said when they arrived they couldn't be sure what the light, some distance from the shore, actually was.

"It wasn't far from the water's edge, but it was intermittent, sometimes flashing, sometimes on for longer. It's one of those things, we couldn't be sure it wasn't on somebody, or that it wasn't something like a torch.

"We recovered the phone and handed it to the police."

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